The Moon represents our emotions. In traditional astrology it also represents
the mother and the nurturing instinct. The Moon also represents habits.
When examining our roles on earth, we see the Sun represents Spirit, and
the Moon represents Matter. When we examine what keeps us returning to earth
life over and over again, the Moon is an important starting point. In the
same way, when we look at the Hermetic creation story
the first boundary we must pass through to return to God is the boundary
represented by the Moon.
What is it about the Moon that makes it the first boundary? It is its
role as keeper of Matter, of habits and instincts. And when we talk about
getting "stuck", what is it that keeps us doing the same thing
over and over again? Habits and instincts. Furthermore, what is it that
keeps us returning to earth in life after life? Emotions--unfinished business,
habits, and instincts. Several ancient esoteric systems (especially as brought
forward by Gurdjieff) claim that the Moon is the "eater of souls"
. How can this be? Could it be that, if we are eternally trapped in a reincarnational
cycle, our souls are then unable to move on to reunite with God. The Moon
is the first planet we must pass by on our allegorical trip back to God,
and in symbolic terms, passing the first boundary, the boundary of the Moon
is the most difficult, because we are least conscious of it.
Before we can go further, we must become conscious of our unconsciousness
and "see" through the darkness. Perhaps this is related to the
fact that in Vedic astrology, the brighter the Moon, the more auspicious.
A full Moon, one that is opposite the Sun in our charts, is visible to us.
We are usually quite aware of oppositions in our charts. By illuminating
the night, a full Moon can help us make the unconscious visible to us--unless
we project the Moon's attributes onto others in our environment. So in order
to break through the first circle and examine the other planets, we must
break the habits of the Moon and start observing our own unconscious behaviors.
The fear is that of leaving the familiar, the known, the "safety"
of our illusions. The antidote is to observe where you are habit-bound.
All text and lineart in these pages Copyright
1997-99 by Anne Beversdorf
About Anne
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